Villa manager Tim Sherwood has admitted there is nothing he can do to stop Benteke leaving the club.

“There’s a buy-out clause in his contract so it will be impossible for us to stop him if he wants to go,” Sherwood said ahead of the FA Cup final in late May. “Someone’s got to meet that buy-out clause and if they don’t it won’t be considered because we don’t want to lose him.”

Benteke finished last season in impressive form, scoring 12 goals in Villa’s last 14 matches to end an injury-interrupted campaign with 15 goals. He was also caused the Liverpool defence huge problems in Villa’s FA Cup semi-final win at the end of the season.